An Essence and her Demon
by FlammingAxel
Summary: An Essence spirit is a completely pure being, existing only to mantain the balance of the three worlds. Hotaru is a very dedicated essence spirit but everything changes when she meets the demon, Jin. She begins to disobey the laws of an essence spirit and disrupt the balance. The more time she spends with Jin, the more she wishes she wasn't an essence
1. Chapter 1

An Essence and her Demon

_Disclaimer: I don't own yu yu hakusho or any of its characters_

"Stop, please! I don't want to have to use violence!" Hotaru pleaded loudly as she continued her chase after the demon. But her cry had fallen on deaf ears as the demon continued to run away from the girl chasing him, adding a few unnecessary curses to the one behind him. "Stop following me or your gonna die, wench!" the persistent demon yelled back. The silver light of the moon was the only visible lighting in the park, blanketed in the night sky. Hotaru let out a huff before pursing her lips back together. She began to run at a greater speed, gaining the achievement of now being right on her prey's tail whereas before she was meters away. Hotaru stretched out her right arm and silver tentacles of misty light began to swarm around her open hand. Only a second later, a large black scythe appeared, now being tightly grasped in Hotaru's pale hand. With one quick and swift swoop, the sharp edge of the blade came into contact with the rough, green skin of the demon, cutting him in half. Both halves of the demon's lifeless corpse fell to the ground with a thump as its dark red blood stained the moist, green grass. The demon's pursuer approached the carcase, wincing slightly at the gore. Hotaru gave a light bow of her head in respect for the unfortunate soul.

"I am sorry that you had to die but disobeying the laws of the three worlds: spirit, human and demon, results in dire consequences." Hotaru raised her head and turned quickly on her heal. She took no more time to examine the scene; her bright, orange eyes had seen enough despite having seen sights like that too many times. She stared for the opposite direction, midway down the path she strode on, stopping to un-summoning her beloved scythe. Her tight grasp on its handle loosened until it fell from her hand but instead of hitting the ground it disappeared in midair with a sudden flash of misty light; similar to the kind that appeared when she summoned it. Hotaru made her way through the Park Forest with her mind a whirlwind of thought as to what she needed to do. "_First I have to report my progress to Master Kei then I have to visit Loki to see how she's doing and I also have to deliver the report copies to Master Koenma...oh and I also have to get my scythe cleaned...hrmmm, so much to do." _Hotaru let out a long and exasperated sigh. She hated long to-do-lists but for some unknown reason, at the end of the day she would always have one no matter how small. A sudden feeling of displeasure interrupted her thoughts. Hotaru ceased her walking, her brows furrowed in discomfort. She brushed a few strands of her raven mop-like bangs away from her troubled eyes. Hotaru could feel the presence of another demon, a very strong demon. Her orange eyes shot glances in every direction trying to locate the source of the demon aura she was sensing. Nothing could be seen except for the greenery and benches that belonged to the park. Nothing could be heard but the rustling of the leaves as they blissfully danced in the cool evening breeze. "Hello?" Hotaru spoke carefully. No answer. "Is anybody out there?" she spoke once again but much to her dismay, there was no answer yet again. "Don't worry, I promise not to harm you as long as you return to the demon world, where you belong." said Hotaru in a polite manner. The area was as silent and cold as death. It seemed that Hotaru really was the only one there but there was no mistaking the immense aura she felt. It was heavy in the air that she breathed and was very distinctive. Most demon auras were evil and had the sense of blood lust, murder and cruelty but this aura was much different. It felt warm and kind with a hint of childish humor. It seemed much more good than it did bad, almost like it was pure...but that was impossible. No being is pure, only an essence spirit can be pure.

As much as Hotaru wanted to walk away and pretend she had never sensed anything, she knew that she needed to follow the laws of an essence spirit. **Law #46: Always obey orders from superiors **and her orders were to never ignore the presence of a demon. Hotaru exhaled loudly before beginning her search for the demon. The raven haired girl wandered around the park's forest, following the invisible trail the aura provided. It felt as if she was searching for hours with no success. Luckily the aura had become stronger about five minutes ago which clearly suggested she was getting closer to her destination. Hotaru paused in mid walk to study her surroundings before continuing her stride. That was her method of searching that she had come up with shortly after beginning her search. Hotaru debated if she should just ignore the aura she sensed but quickly shoved the thought out of her mind. **Law #19: Never ignore a demon aura after sensing it.** Plain and simple. But she could not just disobey the laws, it was clearly stated; **Law #10:**** Never ****disobey the laws.** Despite how many ridiculous laws there were, she had to follow each and every one. Such was the fate of an essence spirit. Hotaru glanced up at the dark, moonlit sky for a brief moment before returning her gaze ahead of her. She could tell that it was very late-3:30 AM from the looks of it. Hotaru just hoped that the demon would not be too troublesome, or at least wouldn't run. Hotaru hated having to do an old fashion chase, especially since it would always end violently. The young spirit could feel her eyelids becoming heavy with exhaustion, blinking a few times in attempt to keep them open. She rubbed her tired, tangerine eyes before whispering aloud "I'm getting tired and Master Kei will be upset if I don't report back to her soon. Maybe I should just go back?" Hotaru opened her mouth as wide as it could go without braking, inhaling a heap of air into her lungs then letting it out with a loud, over exaggerated sound. She groaned rather loudly "I hate working this la—"Hotaru shut her mouth suddenly as if trying to prevent a fly from entering. She could feel the energy of the demon much stronger than before. "_Damn, this energy is so strong."_ She thought as she scanned the area. The demon was close, very, very close. Hotaru continued glancing around her, this time with a hint of restlessness laced in her movements as she began to fully move her torso in the direction her eyes gazed to. "_Where? Where is the demon?"_ Finally Hotaru had the sudden feeling in her gut telling her to look up. She obliged, slowly and cautiously tilting her head upwards to the sky. Above her was what appeared to be a man? Or a boy. Hotaru couldn't see any of his features since he was what most likely appeared to be, floating high in the sky. That was defiantly the demon with the incredibly strong aura that the tired spirit was searching for. Hotaru stared up at the boy with a spark of wonder n her eyes; the kind of spark a child got when seeing something abnormal and intriguing for the first time. She marveled at the demon's ability to fly. She had never encountered any demons with that strange ability. Hotaru had always wished to have the privilege of flight but sadly, essence spirits possessed no such thing.

The boy in the sky began to descend from his current location in the sky and landed perfectly on a tree branch in front of Hotaru with his back turned to her. Now that he was closer to the spirit girl, she could begin to pick out some of his features. He had fluffy looking red haired, much nicer than Hotaru's plain long, long black hair. He wore a strange white, shinobi outfit. It was funny to Hotaru since almost all of the demons she encountered, wear human clothing and make many attempts to blend in with humans. This boy seemed to have no problem showing his true colours. "Hm?" The demon peeked over his shoulder at Hotaru. His crystal blue eyes seemed to glisten with the same curiously of hers. With his hands locked onto his hips, the boy turned his whole body around to face Hotaru. Now that his back wasn't to her, Hotaru noticed a few other features that had not been visible before. He appeared to be around 16-17; he also had a small white horn in the middle of his head. She could also spot how well built he was. There was a confident grin glued to his face that looked like it could never be removed. "And who er ye den?" he asked not losing his grin even for a second. He spoke with an Irish accent which made Hotaru even more interested. She had never heard anyone speak that way before. Hotaru stiffened suddenly after finally acknowledging his question.

"Uh, my name is Hotaru."

"Hotaru? A young girl soch as ye self havin' soch ah dark name? Don't seem teh fit ye."

"Yeah I get that a lot." Hotaru spoke as if she had said her last sentence many times before. She jumped in shock when the demon flew from the branch he had been resting on, right up to her, being only two inches away from Hotaru's face. The feeling of his breath made her feel greatly uncomfortable but for some reason she couldn't seem to make herself move as his crystal blue eyes seemed to captivate her. "Yer defiantly not human...Bot yer not ah demon either. Wot are ye?" Hotaru felt very uncomfortable as the red haired demon studied her with interest. He seemed to be the most interested in the pure white priestess uniform she was wearing, almost as if he had never seen such an outfit. Hotaru finally managed to break free from the trance the demon's eyes had cast on her. She took a few steps back, separating them until they were at a comfortable distance. The boy gave her a confused look; he didn't understand why she was backing away. He lifted both his feet off of the ground and crossed them in mid air, now hovering cross-legged. Hotaru gave a slight bow of her head before beginning. "I am what's called an essence spirit. We are pure beings that live in the spirit world. Our whole existence revolves around maintaining the balance of the three worlds; in other words, making sure that demons stay out of the human world. Events like that disrupt the balance and if the balance is upset too much then all hell can break through. Our job is to remain pure and maintain the balance at all times. Unfortunately, in order to keep the balance, essence spirits must sometimes resort to killing demons even if we don't want to. Do you understand?" The demon was listening very intently to the spirit's explanation. He gave a nod of his head, suggesting that he understood. The grin that had only disappeared for a few minutes, returned to his curious face. "Ah see, so yer a demon slayer den?" Hotaru shook her head. "No, I am not a demon slayer; I only use violence when I need to." There was a silence between the two as, what looked like, the demon debating with himself on whether or not to kill the demon slayer. Hotaru broke through the solid silence. "Would you mind telling me your name?" Her question was more of a demand which seemed to have caught the demon a bit off guard. There was a short silence before he answered.

"Mah name's Jin." Hotaru managed to conjure up a polite smile despite the impatient mood she was in.

"Well Jin, I ask you to please return to the demon world from whence you came. If you fail to obey then I will be forced to use violence." There was another dreaded moment of silence before, much to Hotaru's surprise, Jin burst out into laughter. Hotaru raised a fine brow at the fairly amused demon before her. Jin managed to force out a few words between laughs. "Oh, wot are we gonna do now?" He continued his laughing spree, leaving the essence spirit even more confused than before. "What do you mean?" She demanded, losing her polite tone and smile. Jin slowed his laughter to respond. "Well ye see, ah can't go back teh the demon world coz ah'm here for a visit and ah'm plannin' on stayin' for o while. Ah don't like hittin' wee girls, 'specially teh pretty ones." A light shade of pink brushed against Hotaru's cheeks, adding the only colour to her extremely pale skin. "L-look you must go back now."

"Sorry, no can do. Well ah guess ah better leave before ye get violent, bye!" He gave Hotaru one last glimpse at his grin before flying away, out of her sight range. Hotaru stood in shock from what had just happened. She let a demon get away for the first time ever. The raven haired girl bit her bottom lip in worry. "_Master Kei will be very angry with me."_ She let out an exhausted sigh at the thought of having to sit through one of Kei's lectures. "Well I can't just sit here, I _have_ to go back." Hotaru dug into the large sleeve of her kimono and pulled out two small slips of paper. The paper had many different symbols painted on in black ink. Hotaru took one of them and dug the other back into her sleeve. She threw the slip of paper to the ground and chanted three words in a different language. The slip of paper burst into bright red flames, illuminating the dark forest. Once the tall flames died down, the paper was no longer there, instead there was a floating lantern with a blue flame lit inside it. "Mitsu, return me to spirit world." The Golem happily obliged as it bounced closer to its master. The Golem opened its glass door. The small blue flame inside it came bursting out like a flame thrower, engulfing Hotaru in its warm fiery embrace. Once the flames cleared, Hotaru and the Golem were no longer in the park's forest. They were now standing in a large, old fashion temple. Hotaru wasted no time, making her way down the halls at a fast walking pace. Hotaru came to a sudden stop once she reached two extremely large doors. They were green with decorative gold trim. Hotaru placed both hands on one of the doors and easily pushed it open, stepping inside. After she entered the door began closing. There was only a small window of time for Golem, who had been struggling to keep up with his master, to enter. He flew through at the last minute, almost getting crushed be the force of the now closed door. The room they had entered was very large yet empty. It contained no furniture except for a small wooden desk, full of stacks of paperwork, in the center of the room. Behind the mountains of paperwork, there sat a woman who was busily signing away. She appeared to be in her late twenties. She had dark skin with long purple hair wrapped tightly in an up due. She wore the same white priestess uniform that Hotaru wore but with no sleeves, exposing her arms that were heavily pierced with silver studs. Her arms were not the only thing pierced though, her face was heavily pierced as well-two on either side of her nose, two on her bottom lip, four on each eyebrow, seven on each ear and finally three on her tongue. Her chocolate brown eyes were focused on the paperwork that she was busy signing. Hotaru approached the desk and gave a light bow of her head. "Sorry to disturb you Master Kei but I've come with a report. Without glancing away from her paperwork, Kei spoke. "Proceed." Her croaky voice always irritated Hotaru's sensitive ears. Despite that, Hotaru had the highest respects toward Kei, not only because she was the leader of all essence spirits but because of her kind and understanding personality. Kei always appeared scary and mean but most people gave her that stereotype upon meeting her mostly because of her unusual height of 7"4. Hotaru cleared her throat before continuing her report. "I encountered ten demons. Two were in the human world by accident and I had no trouble sending them back. Seven were there on purpose and would not obey, so I had to slay them. Finally..." Hotaru paused. She wasn't sure if she should tell Kei that one demon managed to escape from her. The spirit closed her tangerine eyes and continued. "One demon managed to get away and is still in the human world." Kei stopped writing and tore her eyes away from her paperwork to glace up at her underling. "One managed to flee? Hm...that's not like you at all, Hotaru." Kei spoke in her naturally croaky voice. Hotaru reopened her tired eyes only to be welcomed by Kei's hard, bone-chilling gaze. "Please forgive me Master Kei. I promise it will not happen again." Kei returned her attention back to her paperwork before responding. "Well since you let the demon escape, tomorrow you will return to the human world and hunt down that demon before doing anything else." Hotaru nodded. "Yes ma'am." She spoke barely above a whisper, displeasure laced in her voice. There was a sudden crash sound of something breaking. Both Kei and Hotaru's eyes snapped in the direction the noise had come from. In the corner of the room, Mitsu was floating above the mess of a shattered vase. Hotaru's jaw dropped once she had caught on to what had just happened. Kei could feel a throbbing vain pop from her head in anger. "That was vintage." She hissed through gritted teeth as an evil aura began to seep out of her. Mitsu flew as fast as lighting towards Hotaru and hid behind her back. Hotaru nervously smiled as she slowly began to back away from Kei who was now shuddering in anger. With a loud snapping sound, the pencil in Kei's hand broke in two. Taking the snapping sound of the pen as a cue, Hotaru bolted out of the room with Mitsu tucked tightly beneath her arm. Just as she closed the door after her exit, there was a loud sound of something hitting the entrance. Hotaru imagined that to be Kei's working desk. The raven haired girl let out a long sigh of relief that she had escaped just in time. "That was close." Hotaru managed to say as she attempted to refill her lungs with air. Mitsu wriggled his way out of Hotaru's tight hold on him and floated in front of his master. Hotaru's orange eyes shot a death glare at the Golem, causing him to shudder in fear.

"You did NOT help me back there you little-"Hotaru stopped herself before anything more could be said. Mitsu was a very sensitive Golem and cursing at him would not be a wise choice. The last time she made that mistake, he wouldn't let her summon him for a week and he was her only gateway to and from the human world. Hotaru let out an exasperated sigh. "Let's go, Mitsu." Hotaru started down the never-ending corridor to her room. She finally came across the small, paper sliding door leading to her bedroom. On the other side of the hallway, across from her room, was her friend, Loki's, room. Hotaru planned on seeing her tonight but it was much too late for that. Tomorrow would not work either since she would have to worry about finding that demon. Hotaru opened her door, allowing Mitsu inside before following behind him. Her room was very dull with barley any decor or tasteful objects but it never bothered Hotaru. Her bedroom was very small and square, containing a plain bed in the upper right corner. Next to the bed was a small open closet containing three extra white priestess uniforms, two extra pairs of straw sandals and a straw hat for bad weather. On the wall next to the closet, hung a black poster that read "_Sometimes to face the world you have to go a little mad" _in bolded letters. Behind the words, was a picture of a smiling cat. Hotaru had picked up that poster in the human world a while back only because she had a love for cats. Hotaru dragged her feet along, towards her bed and slumped down, face first. She felt a shot of relief run through her as she was welcomed by the softness of her bed. Hotaru huddled up into a ball atop the covers to keep warm. Mitsu sprung towards the bed and cuddled up against his master's tense, over worked, body. "Good night...Mitsu." With that, Hotaru closed her tangerine eyes, falling into the world of sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

An Essence and her Demon

_Disclaimer: I don't own yu yu hakusho or any of its characters_

Hotaru was sleeping soundly, her lungs inhaled air in a calm rhythm until her blissful sleep was disturbed by a sudden shot of pain in her head area. As she became more awake and aware of her surroundings, she could analyse that the object hitting her head was metal. Hotaru pried open her orange eyes with a groan. She rolled onto her back, the shots of pain ceased. She glanced around and noticed Mitsu hovering over her.

"Go away, Mitsu." Hotaru hissed but the Golem stayed put. Mitsu frantically floated around in circles trying desperately to wake his master who had fallen asleep once again.

The Golem attempted to wake her by bouncing on her head just as he had a few moments before. _Bad_ idea. Hotaru's hand swung unexpectedly, slamming Mitsu into the very hard wall. She had applied so much force that poor Mitsu made a deep dent in the plaster wall. "I said go away, Mitsu." Hotaru grumbled as she rolled onto her side. Somehow, Mitsu's glass did not break but that did not mean that it didn't hurt him. After all of the ruckus, Hotaru fluttered her orange eyes open and slowly got up, perching herself on the edge of her bed. She stretched her arms before pushing herself up off the bed. The spirit girl glanced back at her Golem.

"C'mon, Mitsu, let's go." She spoke in a monotone before heading to the door.

Mitsu pushed himself out of the wall dent, shaking off any excess rubble before following Hotaru. Once the floating lantern exited the room, Hotaru slid the door closed and made her way down the hall with Mitsu hovering right behind her. She passed by many other girls, not sparing them a single glance. All the other essence spirits had shiny white, gold, pink or purple hair with pretty brown or hazel eyes. It was the common appearance of an essence but Hotaru had plain black hair and strange orange eyes that she never liked. She normally was picked on or ignored for being so different from all of the other spirits. All essences had a beautiful name that meant love, light, angel or any other pure name along those lines. But her name, Hotaru, meant death and darkness, one that she did not like having. Those weren't the only things that made Hotaru so different from the rest; all spirit's weapons are silver in colour but she had a black scythe, which would earn her many criticisms from the others. Hotaru never understood why she had to be so different. Why was she born with black hair instead of white? Why was she born with orange eyes instead of brown? Why was she given such a dark and cruel name? As a result of all of that, Hotaru had absolutely no friends except for one, Loki. Loki was the only person that never gave Hotaru attitude or ignored her. The only person to not criticise her or to compliment her. It was for those reasons the Hotaru cherished her friend so dearly. Of course there was Kei as well. She always told Hotaru that she had so much talent and potential. And who could forget about Mitsu, her loyal Golem and partner.

Hotaru continued down the hallway, ignoring every disgusted or rude look shot her way until she reached her destination: the dining room. The dining room was a very large room filled with a long table stretching down the middle. On either side of the table was a row of purple cushions to sit on, with the food already served on the table. Hotaru spotted an empty seat at the end of the table on the right hand side-the seat closest to the door.

The moment she took a seat on the plush cushion, the girl next to her shot her a glare hoping to scare off Hotaru. Once Hotaru didn't move even after being glared at, the girl let out an irritated sigh, clearly expressing her displeasure in having to sit next to the "misfit". The spirit turned in her seat and began chatting with the girl next to her. Hotaru glanced to the side at the girl's perfect, shiny white hair. It stretched all the way down to her butt and swayed with every movement the girl made. Hotaru could feel a sudden pang of jealousy hit her as she wished for such marvelous hair. The white haired girl hesitantly turned her head towards Hotaru.

"Uh, what are you doing?" she asked. Her voice was very high pitched, somewhat like a rodent's squeal. It penetrated Hotaru's eardrums, annoying her greatly.

"I'm just...never mind." The raven haired girl responded while reeling her eyes back to her dish.

"Well whatever you were doing, stop, it's creepy." With that the girl returned to her conversation. The girl's high pitched, arrogant filled voice was practically asking for Hotaru to punch her but she restrained herself before she could attempt to strike. Hotaru hated breakfast the most. She was forced to eat her food in the same room with so many people she despised and not to mention the bland food they had to consume was the same thing every day: tasteless soup, bitter tea and a plain bun. Hotaru stared at the disgusting meal before her with furrowed eyebrows. She was not at all hungry for that food, oh how she wanted so badly to try human food but of course it was against the law. **Law #34: An essence spirit is not permitted to consume any human food whatsoever. **Hotaru let out a sigh and grabbed the bun, shoving it into her mouth whole. She got up just as she swallowed the bun she had just chewed. Hotaru took her leave from the bustling dining room.

The once busy halls were now mostly empty except for the odd person walking by. Everyone was now eating breakfast, the worst meal of the day. Hotaru glanced at Mitsu who was floating next to her. "Take me to the human world, Mitsu." The lantern hopped in front of his master and drowned her in his blue flames, sending them both to the human world. The scenery changed from the temple hall to the middle of a busy street. Humans everywhere, walked by Hotaru. The screech of the car tires on the paved road made Hotaru's body tingle. It was a good thing that she was invisible to humans when she wanted to be or else she would be the center of attention in this bustling street. Being surrounded by so many people at once was making Hotaru feel claustrophobic, she knew that it would be impossible to find a demon aura when the scent of humans was over powering everything. Hotaru reached up, grabbed hold of Mitsu and tucked him safely under her arm. She sprang up from the ground in one great and fast jump, landing on one of the building roofs in less than a second. Once her feet were planted safely on the flat roof, Hotaru let go of Mitsu, allowing him to float freely.

"Alright Mitsu, I need you to fly up higher and search for the demon's aura. If you find it, then return and inform me immediately okay?" The Golem bounced happily before soaring high in the blue sky, disappearing in the clouds. Hotaru exhaled loudly.

"Well...it looks like this is going to be a long day."

Hotaru began to jump swiftly from roof to roof, sending glances in every direction. Her search stretched on for three hours and yet no sign of the same aura she encountered the night before. Hotaru's feet were beginning to ache from jumping from roof to roof nonstop. Her stomach let out a long and loud growl of longing for food. Hotaru groaned in response. By now she was beginning to regret not eating her full meal, now she was paying the price. Unfortunately, Hotaru would have to wait until she returned to the temple to fill her grumbling tummy with food. Hotaru brought her jumping to a halt once her orange orbs caught sight of a small apple tree in someone's backyard clustered with lush, ripe apples. Hotaru eyed the apple tree with hunger written on her face. She was hungry, no humans were around and it wasn't like they could see her anyways.

The spirit leapt from the roof of a small apartment building she was standing upon, on to the grass of the yard. She strode towards the apple tree and stretched out one of her hands, grasping onto the shiniest, biggest, reddest apple on the plant. She brought the fruit close to her face and inhaled its sweet aroma. Hotaru had only tasted a human apple once before but it was so long ago that she couldn't remember the taste. Of course eating a human apple was breaking a law but that law was one of the least important ones. Its importance was equivalent to the rule of no gum chewing in school. Hotaru opened her mouth and bit into the apple. The first thing she tasted was the beautiful sweetness of the fruit that enlightened her dry mouth. The juice streamed down her chin with each bite she took. Before she knew it, Hotaru had eaten the apple right down to the core. A sudden pang of sadness hit her at the sight of the finished apple. Human food was like a miracle to Hotaru, a saviour from all things tasteless. Hotaru tossed the core over her shoulder and reached back to the tree. Though her stomach was satisfied, she didn't know how long she would be searching, she might get hungry.

Hotaru plucked three more apples off the tree, two for her and one for Mitsu. She dug the three red fruits into her white sleeve. After her break, Hotaru leapt back onto the roof and resumed her job. After two more hours, Hotaru began to get frustrated. In total she had been searching for five hours straight with absolutely no luck.

"Where are you, you red haired bastard?!" Hotaru screamed as loud as possible, filling herself with false hope that the demon would answer.

She furrowed her eyebrows while putting on a pout. The raven haired spirit shot a few glances around her. The demon was nowhere in sight, not like she expected him to be anyways. Hotaru let out all of her built up frustration with a long sigh to calm herself.

"I'm _never_ going to find him."

*..~..*

Mitsu flew at high speed in search of the demon his master was pursuing. In five hours or so, he had managed to cover half of the city. Within another five hours he was sure to find the demon or at least pick up its aura. After about ten more minutes passed, Mitsu brought his flying to a halt after feeling a sudden tingle run throughout his lantern "body". He took a moment to analyse the aura he had picked up. Mitsu jumped with joy after identifying the aura to belong to the demon with the funny voice. His master told him that if he found the aura, then to report back to her. But Mitsu wanted to make his master even happier, yes, yes he did. He would go and find the demon himself and slay it! Then his beloved Master Hotaru would be very, very happy with him, yes, yes she would. He would bring an end to the demon that made his master so upset, yes, yes he would! In less than a second, Mitsu bolted in the direction the aura was coming from.

The aura led Mitsu to an apartment building with many balconies overlooking the crowded city. Mitsu floated towards the one balcony that was drowned in demon aura. He peered through the sliding glass door. On the other side of the transparent door was a small apartment. The decor was very modern and simple, with not much detail at all. Mitsu seemed to be peering at the living kitchen and the dining room, attached to the kitchen. There was no doubt that the demon was in there, yes, yes he was. Mitsu would have to find a way inside in order to fulfil his masters wish, yes, yes he would. Mitsu floated back a few inches, preparing to break through the thick glass. He wouldn't break despite being made of glass himself though. He was a Golem, Golems don't break, no, no they don't.

Mitsu gave himself a few more moments before charging at the door. With a loud crashing sound, Mitsu had successfully broken through the door. He felt very proud of himself for being so strong, and heroic, yes, yes he did.

"What the hell was that?!" An unknown voice yelled.

Mitsu jumped from the sudden scream. The sound of someone running became louder and closer with each passing second. Mitsu froze in fear as a human rounded the corner with a nasty glare is his brown eyes. Mitsu began to shake from being trapped in the human boy's intimidating gaze. The boy raised a fine brow after taking a good look at the floating lantern.

"What the hell?" He spoke with confusion laced in his voice.

"Whot tis it, Urameshi?" Came another voice as someone else rounded the corner. Mitsu immediately recognized the other person to be the funny voiced demon that Master Hotaru was in search for. Mitsu wanted to pounce at him and take care of him at that moment but he was too frozen in fear to even think.

"The hell is tat ting?"

"What're you asking me for?"

"Ye tink it's a demon?"

"Doesn't look like one."

Mitsu continued to shudder in fear as the two much larger beings before him chatted with each other. His imagination ran wild with plenty of brutal ideas of how they would torture him. Hit him with a hammer? Stick him in a blender? Drown him in the sink? Punch his lights out? Sit on him?! Mitsu was now scared out of his wits but he knew he had to remain strong for his master, yes, yes he would. At the thought of pleasing his master, Mitsu managed to conjure up enough courage to land a fatal strike on the human. Mitsu charged himself into the human's stomach. The human boy clutched his stomach and fell to his knees from the pain of the unexpected blow he took. The red haired demon began to laugh in amusement but was interrupted by Mitsu attempting to land the same blow on him. Jin jumped out of the way effortlessly, causing the floating lantern to land the attack on the ground instead.

"Whoa, yer ah feisty little one." Jin spoke while he landed gracefully on the ground.

"Alright that dose it!" The human yelled after recovering from Mitsu's attack. He grabbed hold of Mitsu and held him in front of his face. He had a look of irritation and anger written on his face. The human was not at all happy with Mitsu, no, no he wasn't. Mitsu couldn't escape the human's tight grip no matter how much he bounced and squirmed. Mitsu prepared himself for a world of pain, wishing his master would come to his rescue.

"Mitsu!" A very familiar voice called out. Everyone in the room glanced over in the direction of the voice. There, standing in front of the broken glass door, was Hotaru. Mitsu began to bounce in joy at the sight of his master, come to his rescue.

"Huh? Who are you?" Asked the human boy.

"My name is Hotaru, I'm a spirit and that lantern you're holding is my partner, Mitsu."

"Whaaat?"

"I'm truly sorry for any trouble he may have caused you but may I ask that you let him go please?"

After a moment of thought, the human tossed Mitsu back to Hotaru who in return, caught her Golem safely.

"Better keep that thing on a leash." He growled. Hotaru bowed her head in gratitude.

"Before I leave, I have one more thing to take care of." Hotaru stated, now gaining the attention of Jin who had subconsciously tuned out what had just happen as he had been focusing more on trying to clear up why the girl he met the night before was now in front of him. Hotaru pointed her slender index finger towards Jin in a slightly accusing manner. "I have come to offer my request once more; if you do not obey then I will have no other choice but to use violence." Jin tilted his head.

"Your still goin' on 'bout dat, lass? Ah already said no." Hotaru exhaled loudly in response to his answer. Her soft yet strict eyes suddenly became dark with a spark of irritation.

"Very well." She spoke in a monotone while unhanding Mitsu who in return floated next to his master. Both Jin and Yusuke got a sudden uneasy feeling shoot through them. Hotaru lifted up her right arm in front of her and summoned her large scythe. Only a moment later, Hotaru swung her weapon in Jin's direction only just missing him as he dodged the attack. The last swing was followed by another, and then another until Hotaru was swinging her scythe in an extremely fast pattern. Jin desperately tried his best to avoid any contact with the sharp blade. The speed of her attacks could rival both Jin and Yusuke's put together which prevented Jin from using any defense manoeuvres; all he could do was frantically dodge. Hotaru's attacks were getting closer and closer to hitting her target each time. Her lips curled into a smirk as her latest hit skimmed Jin's midriff.

Hotaru was sure that her next few swings would inflict a few deep gashes to finish off her prey. She swung her scythe one last time for the finishing blow but could not carry out the attack.

"Spirit gun!"

Hotaru attempted to glance in the direction the voice had come from but it was too late. She had already been hit with a powerful blue blast of spirit energy. The scythe in the spirit's hands disappeared on its own as she limply fell. Hotaru waited for her numb body to impact against the floor but instead she was caught in someone's strong, warm arms. Hotaru could not look up to see who caught her before everything went black.


	3. Chapter 3

_(Disclaimer: I don't own yu yu hakusho or any of its characters)_

A pang of pain stabbed her stomach and ran through the rest of Hotaru's body. Somehow the pain seemed familiar. A discomforted grunt shot out of her mouth as she slowly opened her heavy, tangerine eyes. Everything around her was nothing but a blur until her vision came into focus. Hotaru could only see the beige ceiling with a bright light hanging above her, shining as bright as possible in her eyes. The light was so intense, Hotaru had to squint her eyes to avoid becoming blind.

The spirit made a sad attempt to sit up only to be stopped by a sharp pain coming from her back. Hotaru rested her head back on the soft pillow. After only moving briefly she recognized just how sore her body was. The aches went from her head, through all her joints and to her toes. The pain was most horrible at her back for some reason, as if it were the source of all her pain. Upon thinking about her sore body, the memory of her encounter with the annoying human and weird-voiced demon slipped into her mind.

Hotaru grimaced at the thought of that moment when she was hit by a strange attack. The memory of the burning feeling of it still scorched her brain. There was no way that that demon could have attacked her; he was right in front of her the whole time. That left the human but it couldn't have been him, an attack that powerful could never be performed by a human. As Hotaru dug deeper and deeper into the subject, more questions snuck their way into her imagination.

Why was a human with a demon? That has never been tolerated, it was just not right. Who attacked Hotaru and why? Was it because she was attempting to kill that demon, Jin? Hotaru sighed heavily. There were so many questions that she had no answers to. Hotaru's ears perked up at the faint sound of footsteps. Her muscles tensed as the sound got louder and louder. Finally they stopped.

"I see, so your awake." Spoke a soft and calm voice. The voice sounded to be that of a male. All of Hotaru's tense muscles relaxed upon hearing the voice. Something about its calm and gentle sound made Hotaru feel a bit at ease. The spirit slowly turned her heavy, aching head in the direction of the voice. Her tangerine eyes caught sight of a girl with long red hair and apple green eyes. Hotaru's blurred vision finally came into focus, making the girl before her become more visible than before.

Hotaru mentally scolded herself upon realization that the person before her was really a young man and not a girl at all. No-one could blame her for her mistake though. The first moment she caught a glimpse of the boy, her vision was still attempting to adjust from the light and he had such long hair as well. The boy wore what seemed to be a uniform of some sort but Hotaru could not identify what it was for. Despite spending so much time in the human world, she had never taken the time to learn just about anything about it.

The boy approached bedside, carrying a small watering can in one hand that Hotaru had just then noticed. Boy was Hotaru ever slow sometimes. The red haired boy knelt next to the bedside so that his head was now at level with hers. He had on a gentle smile which managed to make the last of Hotaru's worry disappear.

"I'm glad you're alright. It truly is amazing that it only took a day for your body to heal from the wound you got on your back . . . but I suppose that it is to be expected from an essence spirit."

Hotaru's brief sense of security vanished and was replaced with worry and confusion once more. How did he know what Hotaru was? But then again, Hotaru could sense a very strange aura surrounding him. The boy's smile dropped once he took notice of Hotaru's suspicious expression written on her pale face.

"Oh. Sorry. I should probably introduce myself, I'm Kurama, I work for Koenma."

Hotaru's suspicion was soon pushed out of her completely once Kurama mentioned working for Koenma. That explained many things. As realization hit her, Hotaru parted her lips to speak a reply.

"Wait, _you're _Kurama?"

"Yes, have you heard of me?" Kurama asked slightly unsure as to what Hotaru was leading to.

"Well let's just say that there isn't a single day were I don't hear all of the other essence spirits squealing over Koenma's "sexy" subordinate, Kurama. I guess you could say that I have been a bit curious about you."

"Oh. I see."

Kurama let out an amused chuckle. He was well aware of all the fan girls he had in the essence spirit temple but what was really amusing to him was the fact that this particular spirit didn't seem at all thrilled to meet Kurama . . . or wake up in his bed for that matter. The red haired boy recovered his composer before speaking again.

"If you don't mind me asking, what is your name?" There was a moment of silence before the spirit answered.

"My name is Hotaru."

"I see . . . how interesting for an essence to have such a dark name." Hotaru merely nodded in response. She had heard too many comments along those lines for her to even care or acknowledge them being said.

"Well I suppose I should explain where you are and what you are doing here." Hotaru's full attention was now on Kurama. The whole time she sat there, she wondered where she was but more importantly where Jin had gone off to. Kurama cleared his throat before proceeding.

"You're in my house right now. When you were attacking Jin, Yusuke shot you with one of his powerful abilities called the spirit gun. You may be wondering why a human possesses this ability. Well you see, Yusuke used to be Koenma's spirit detective."

Kurama paused in order to let the information sink in. Hotaru had heard of the former spirit detective before, she was actually quite surprised to learn that she had encountered him. Hotaru gave a small nod of understanding before Kurama continued.

"Well after you were struck, Jin brought you back here to be treated and—" Hotaru cut him off.

"Where is Jin!?" She blurted out rather loudly. She sprung to an upright position onto the bed, ignoring the throbbing pain in her back.

"Calm down Miss Hotaru, you haven't fully recovered yet."

Kurama placed a warm hand onto her stiff shoulder.

"Just tell me where Jin is and I promise I won't bother you anymore."

Kurama just gave her a mere shake of his head. Because of the fact that Hotaru still hadn't completely recovered yet, he wasn't about to reveal the location of her target. Kurama parted his lips to speak but before any words could be said a loud, intruding voice echoed through the hall until the speaker entered the bedroom.

"Eh Kurama, how's teh girl?"

Kurama threw his head into his palm. Of course Jin had to come in at that moment and let himself be seen by Hotaru. The spirit's tangerine eyes became wide at the sight of Jin. She sprung from the bad and onto her feet. She shot her hand out to the side and attempted to summon her scythe. Unfortunately Hotaru couldn't ignore the pain forever. Before her weapon could be summoned, she stumbled to the ground in front of Jin with a loud thump. Before Kurama could run over to help Hotaru up, Jin stretched out his hand towards her with a wide grin glued to his face. A vision crept into Kurama's mid of what would happen in the next five seconds. Hotaru would glare at Jin with complete hatred dripping from her eyes like tears. She would then summon her scythe and attempt to kill Jin, according to Yusuke; she was impulsive (which was ironic coming from him).

Kurama's theory proved to be inaccurate which came as a great surprise to him. Hotaru cautiously slipped her small hand into Jin's, not taking her careful eyes off of him for a minute as he helped her up. She studied his features as if searching him for a hint of evil or trickery.

Once it seemed that Hotaru found no sign of either, she raised a fine brow at the grinning demon. Kurama stood silently observing. He was quite interested especially since Hotaru hadn't attacked Jin yet. There was a heavy silence that surrounded the three before Hotaru finally broke through.

"You . . . aren't at all like any of the demons I've encountered in the past . . . you're just so different."

"Oh? Ye tryin' teh say dat I'm special den?"

"I wouldn't take it _that_ far." Hotaru spoke with an annoyed tone laced in her voice.

Jin just laughed in amusement. Only seconds later, a punch of realization hit Hotaru's brain, causing her to fall into an instant panic attack.

"Where's Mitsu?!" She yelled as she frantically whipped her head in all directions. Both Jin and Kurama gave her a look of misunderstanding.

"Who?" They asked in unison.

"You know, that little lantern thing that was with me, where is he?!" Kurama tilted his head, still not brought to complete understanding. Jin tapped his chin in thought. After a few moments, there was a sparkle of triumph in his sky blue eyes as he had just remembered what Hotaru was talking about.

"Now ah remember! Once ye passed out, he burst in tuh flames an' turned in tuh a piece o' paper."

"Okay but where is he now?!" Hotaru pressed for more information. She was desperate to find Mitsu. She moved closer and closer to Jin until she was merely inches away. Jin gave her a nervous grin at the unintentional glare she was directing at him.

"Well ye see, after he turned in tuh paper tah breeze came in an' swept him out tah glass door dat ye broke." Hotaru's tangerine eyes grew wide with horror. She felt her heart rise up and lodge itself in her throat, preventing her from speaking a word. Mitsu was the only way she could get to and from the spirit world but not only that, Mitsu was also Hotaru's best friend and now he was gone. It would take her days, no, weeks to find him and that would mean . . . that she would be stuck in the human world until Mitsu was found.


End file.
